Belarus intends to cooperate actively with Azerbaijan in Silk Road Support Group

“Belarus intends to actively cooperate with Azerbaijan in the Silk Road Support Group which was established at the PA OSCE during the 26th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk,” Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said as he met with Speaker of the Milli Majlis Ogtay Asadov in Minsk, BelTA reported.

Vladimir Andreichenko recalled that Azerbaijan proposed this initiative and Belarus acted as a co-founder of the Silk Road Support Group at the PA OSCE. According to the speaker, this is a very important project from an economic point of view, and also considering the fact that Belarus is home to the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park Great Stone. According to Vladimir Andreichenko, the Belarusian side expects active cooperation in this group. Representatives of Belarus plan to take part in the conference to discuss the work of the Silk Road Support Group which will take place in Baku. “It is important that the agenda includes as many economic, investment and logistics projects as possible,” the speaker said.

Vladimir Andreichenko said that Azerbaijan is a reliable friend and partner of Belarus. The two countries have created all conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation.

The speaker noted that inter-parliamentary dialogue between the two countries has been developing rapidly. “We meet regularly at international venues. We did great work at the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk. Together, we prevented the inclusion in the Minsk Declaration of the Swedish resolution which was aimed against Azerbaijan, Belarus and the Russian Federation. It is important that our approaches coincide almost on all issues on the international agenda,” Vladimir Andreichenko said.

The MPs will continue their dialogue in St. Petersburg during the 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly sessions. Particular attention should be given to the development of trade, economic and investment contacts.

According to Vladimir Andreichenko, emphasis should be placed on cooperation in agriculture, education, information technology, the cooperation between the Academies of Sciences. The MPs should take an active part in this work, the speaker is convinced.

For his part, Ogtay Asadov remarked that the relations between Belarus and Azerbaijan are at a very high political level. With regard to economic cooperation, the speaker expressed the opinion that it should be diversified at the level of regions. “If our firms find points of contact in every region, this will be a huge help in the development of our state-to-state relations,” he said.

In addition, Ogtay Asadov, the MPs should pay more attention to the development of the legal framework. Among other things, the Azerbaijani speaker noted the importance of cooperation among the three countries - Belarus, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which should a give new impetus to the development of relations.